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Parents want their teens to be physically active, but they also want to keep them injury-free. Researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health tracked injuries at more than 150 high schools nationwide for the 2011-2012 school year. Led by R. Dawn Comstock, Ph.D., the researchers have calculated the rate of injuries to athletes engaged in their sport, including practices and competition. This research has identified some of the safer sports for high school students.

Swimming

The safest sport for both male and female student athletes turns out to be swimming. On average, boys had a risk rate of .17 injuries per 1,000 times they swam. Essentially, this means boys would be at risk for just one injury out of nearly 6,000 practices and meets. Girls had a rate of .38 per 1,000, which equals roughly one injury out of 3,000 times swimming.

Cheerleading

Coming in second for girls is cheerleading, which had an injury rate of .58 per 1,000. Practicing and performing cheers proved to be nearly as benign as swimming; however, cheerleading competitions raised the injury risk to .67.

Volleyball

For boys, this is the second safest sport at .53 per 1,000; for girls, it's the fourth safest with a 1.07 risk rate. Even though volleyball is a good choice, girls are twice as likely to suffer an injury as boys are.

Track

Although the demands of track and field range from running to jumping to heaving shotputs, this was the third safest pursuit for both boys and girls. Male students experienced .74 injuries per 1,000 exposures while for girls the rate was .93 per 1,000. .

Baseball

As the fourth safest sport for boys, baseball seems to be restricting injuries thanks to improved protective gear for batters and catchers, and imposing tighter restrictions on the number of pitches players are allowed to throw. The sport had .87 injuries per 1,000 exposures.

Girls' gymnastics

Girls' gymnastics proved to be the fifth safest choice at 1.09. The schools did not provide statistics for boys' gymnastics however. Part of the reason high school gymnastics may be safe is that the programs and demands on the athletes are more limited compared to those placed on gymnasts entering national competitions.

Boys' Basketball

Basketball comes in as the fifth safest sport for boys with an injury-risk rate of 1.37 per 1,000 exposures. This may come as a surprise, when you consider the potential for ankles sprains and twisted knees. For girls, the risk is higher. Female basketball players had 1.78 injuries per 1,000 exposures, ranking it ninth.

Girls' Lacrosse

Unlike boys' lacrosse, the girls' game places more limits on contact between players. As a result, lacrosse is the sixth safest choice for girls, with an injury rate of 1.23 injuries per 1,000 exposres. The physical nature of the boys' game means it's more injury plagued, carrying a higher risk than ice hockey and wrestling.

Boys' soccer

There's a big gender divide in soccer. It's the sixth safest sport for boys with 1.71 injuries per 1,000 exposures, but it's the single riskiest sport for girls with 2.46 injuries per 1,000 exposures. One possible reason girls are more prone to injury than boys in sports such as soccer and basketball may have to do with their naturally wider hips, say the researchers. This creates a sharper angle where the femur meets the knee, and may leave girls more vulnerable to knee injuries.

Softball

While it poses more risks than baseball does for boys, softball's injury rate of 1.56 per 1,000 exposures ranks it as the seventh safest sport for girls. Again, better equipment and tight pitch counts are helping make this a good choice for daughters.

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About the Author

John Hastings has written and edited health, fitness and science stories for magazines, websites and iPad publications. He has held senior editorial positions at "O, The Oprah Magazine," "Reader’s Digest" and "Health." He has also contributed to magazines such as "Men’s Journal" and "Bon Appetit."